SAN DIEGO -- A judge Tuesday postponed until Thursday a preliminary hearing for an ex-con accused of bludgeoning his wife to death with a "police-style" flashlight while she slept in their Talmadge apartment.

Thomas Everett Taylor II, 63, is charged with murder in the April 2 killing of 58-year-old Brenda Martin-Taylor. The couple had been together for 40 years and had been married for nearly 25.

Taylor faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of murdering his wife.

Judge Robert Trentacosta agreed to delay the start of Taylor's preliminary hearing for two days at the request of defense attorney Neil Besse and prosecutor Jessica Schuster.

Schuster told a judge at the defendant's arraignment that police were sent to the couple's home on 47th Street around 5:30 a.m.

Neighbors had reported the sound of glass crashing and seeing furniture being thrown out of a second-story window, the prosecutor said.

When officers arrived, they saw the defendant in the front yard and ordered him to stop, but he refused and balled up his fists in an aggressive manner, Schuster said.

Police hit Taylor with pepper-spray, bean bags and a Taser before finally wrestling him to the ground, the prosecutor said.

When officers went upstairs, they found the victim in bed under the covers, with serious injuries to the left side of her head, Schuster said.

A large police-style flashlight -- believed to be the weapon used in the slaying -- was found in the living room, the prosecutor said.

Taylor served at least one prison sentence in the 1970s and '80s for a homicide in Illinois, according to family members and news reports.

According to articles published in the San Diego Union and Tribune, Taylor -- a Vietnam veteran -- was on parole for a homicide when he was arrested in 1984 on a warrant in connection with the stabbing death of a Chicago man.

At the end of the preliminary hearing, a judge will decide if enough evidence was presented for the defendant to stand trial.